45. But in us the preacher of the Gospel by the Spirit of Christ Who spoke through him, instils the knowledge of this His proper nature when he says, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to grasp at that He was equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant438    Phil. ii. 6, 7. The sense in which Hilary understands non rapinam arbitratus est, is to be seen in his explanation, non sibi rapiens esse se æqualem Deo (see just below).. For He, Whom God had sealed, could be naught else than the form of God, and that which has been sealed in the form of God must needs present at the same time imaged forth within itself all that God possesses. And for this cause the Apostle taught that He Whom God sealed is God abiding in the form of God. For when about to speak of the Mystery of the body assumed and born in Him, he says, He thought it not a thing to grasp at that He was equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant439    Ibid. As regards His being in the form of God, by virtue of God’s seal upon Him, he still remained God. But inasmuch as He was to take the form of a servant and become obedient unto death, not grasping at His equality with God, He emptied Himself through obedience to take the form of a slave. And He emptied Himself of the form of God, that is, of that wherein He was equal with God—not that He regarded His equality with God as any encroachment,—although He was in the form of God and equal with God and sealed by God as God.

45. Signatum a Deo exponit Paulus dicens in Dei forma.---Sed nobis Evangelii praedicator proprietatis hujus intelligentiam Spiritu Christi per se loquentis insinuat, dicens: Qui cum in forma Dei esset, non 0270A rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo, sed se exinanivit, formam servi accipiens (Philip. II, 6, 7). Quem enim signaverat Deus, aliud praeter quam Dei forma esse 246 non potuit: et id, quod signatum in Dei forma est, hoc necesse est totum in se coimaginatum habere, quod Dei est. Et idcirco Apostolus eum, quem signavit Deus, in Dei forma manentem Deum praedicavit. Nam assumpti et connati in eo corporis sacramentum locuturus ait, Non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo, sed se exinanivit, formam servi accipiens. Quod enim in forma Dei erat, per signantem se Deum Deus manebat. Sed quia suscipienda erat forma servi, et obediens esset futurus ad mortem; non sibi rapiens esse se aequalem Deo, ad susceptionem se formae servilis 0270B per obedientiam exinanivit. Exinanivit autem se ex Dei forma, id est, ex eo quod aequalis Deo erat: non tamen aequalem se Deo per rapinam existimans, quamvis in forma Dei, et aequalis Deo, per Deum Deus signatus exstaret.